I Don't Think We Are Still in Kansas, Toto

  Monday, June 3  , 2013
We awoke at Cedar Bluff State Park in the wilds of Kansas with the wind blowing.    We met a couple of fishermen when we first pulled into the park a couple of days ago.   They said the wind had blown them off of another lake so they came here cause they knew they could get out of the wind.   One of them commented that they have two or three days a year when the wind doesn’t blow in Kansas.  Seems like he was pretty close to being right.

Camp Sites at Cedar Bluff State Park, Kansas

Since illness has been sweeping through the camp, there was a brief discussion as to whether we should spend another night at Cedar Bluff, but the decision was made to press on.  

The bluffs of Kansas

Hanging back from the edge

The Nicodemus quilt from the Kansas National Parks Collection

We drove back down the lake, the way we had come in, and turned down another dirt road to the scenic lake overlook the last half mile of the road was a little rough, but we ended up on the Bluff that the lake is named for.  The bluff was about 60 to 80 feet high and was pretty much vertical with a few draws that you could go down to the lake if you desired.   The wind was blowing strong enough that we didn’t get too close to the edge. 

We made our way back out to route 283 and headed north to Wakeeney, KS where we made a fuel stop.   Once the rolling caves were taken care of we continued north to Hill City and turned east on route 24 to the town of Nicodemus, KS.    The people were Negro, ex-slaves who came from Kentucky after the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and settled Nicodemus.   They came here because land was available and to escape the racial injustices that remained in the south after the Civil War.   The Nicodemus National Historic Site Tells the story of some of the settlers, and of course, has a passport book cancellation stamp which we promptly secured. 

VC at Nicodemus

 After spending quite a bit of time in the VC, we decided to fix our lunch at the historic site rest stop just around the corner. It was then we discovered a problem that we wish wasn't part of our trip, but it happened. Water was streaming out of the back door of the Flintstone mobile. Human error and rough roads had combined to overflow the gray water tank and made quite a mess. Thankfully the throw rugs are extremely thick and heavy and had soaked up a lot. We got the mess cleaned up best as possible, then had some lunch and drove east on route 24 to Colby, KS.Maybe this is the trip that should not have been!

Discovery and clean up

At Colby we got on I-70 heading west.   The wind had been blowing all day from the southeast, changing to south, at about 25 mph with gusts to 35mph.   Strange as it may seem, about the time we got into Colorado we passed under a cloud bank and the wind almost stopped.  Someone commented, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto”

Sunset at the Limon, CO KOA

Kind of typical weather this trip

We stopped in Limon, CO for fuel and pulled into a KOA so we could get a hot shower and do laundry.   It promises to be a good night and so we’ll say it.
Good night.